LiberatedKnowledge Wiki:Writing about Sex , Gender and Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex (TGVI) People
Sex Sex is biological and dischotomous. People are either male or female. A small number of people are intersex. This means they either have a mixture of male and female sex organs. However, most intersex people will have a predominant sex. i.e. they will be more female than male or more male than female. A person is born intersex. They cannot become intersex later in life. Gender Gender is socially constructed. In some cultures, there are more than two genders. Gender roles vary geographically and historically. Most people's gender identity is the same as their biological sex. A small number of people are transgender. This means that that they feel they are a different gender than their biological sex. For example, a male person feels they are a woman or a female person who feels they are a man. Transgender people often wear the clothes of the gender they identify with. They also often change their name to a name that is.more commonly used for members of the gender they identify as. Transgender people may also take cross-examination hormones or undergo surgery to give them the appearance of being a member of the sex they identify as. Sex and gender are very controversial. LiberatedKnowledge aims to balance respect with scientific accuracy in its coverage of such topics. Writing about a person's sex and gender identity In most cases writing about a person's sex and gender is simple. It is reasonable to assume that most people are biologically male or female and use either male or female pronouns. There is no need for the article's subject to explicitly confirm their sex, gender identity or preferred pronouns. If a person has publically stated they are transgender or identify as gender non-binary, the person's preferred name and pronouns should be used. In the lead, the person's previous name may be referred to and a redirect should be made so that the article page can be reached by searching either the current name or the previous name.if the person was notable before they changed gender, photographs of the person as their previous gender are permitted as are references to the person's previous gender-related activities. For example, an article on Caitlyn Jenner, it would be acceptable to say that she is the father of 6 children and competed in the men's decathlon. If a person has not identified as transgender or gender non-binary, the article should not claim they are. This applies to both living and historical people. Finding that a person is transgender when the person has never identified as such is not permitted for two reasons. Firstly, if no sources to support the claim that a person is transgender, it may be a violation of LiberatedKnowledge wiki:No Original Research. Secondly, claiming a living person is transgender when they have never identified as such could be libel. Writing about sex organs , hormones and reproduction In keeping with the LiberatedKnowledge wiki:Point of View policy, TBDWiki takes the view that sex hormones, sex organs and reproduction are biological phenomena. The idea that sex organs and sex hormones are a social constructed does not warrant significant coverage in articles on sex organs, sex hormones and reproduction. When describing sex organs, hormones and reproduction, the terms male and female will be used. For example, articles on pregnancy will refer to pregnant women rather than pregnant people and the article on prostate cancer will refer to men rather than people with prostates. Rationale Some readers may feel that this position is transphobic or cisexist. This is why TBDWiki disagrees. Firstly, the vast majority of people are not intersex, transgender or gender non-binary. The existance of people who are intersex, transgender or gender non-binary does not discredit the existance of biological sex. To put this into context, that some dogs are born with fewer or more legs or have had legs amputated does not change the fact that dogs as a species have four legs. There is clear evidence that biological sex does exist. Only a person born with ovaries, a uterus and a vagina can become pregnant. Only a person with a penis and testicles can impregnate someone. The vast majority of people with vaginas identify as women and only have female sex organs. Likewise, the vast majority of people with penisis identify as men and have only male sex organs. Therefore, statements such as "some women have a penis" or "men have periods too" are inaccurate. Such statements are also potentially confusing. For example, if an article refers to "people who have periods", does that mean that a prepubescent boy with a penis will have periods when he grows older? If an article refers to "people with prostates", does that mean that a woman with a vagina who grew up in a devoutly religious environment where sex and reproduction were never discussed need prostate cancer screening? To a transman who has periods, it might be comforting to think of the periods as something that is not inherently female. A person who identified as gender neutral might be encouraged to attend prostate cancer screening if the article on prostate cancer said that both women and men had prostates. But this view is not held by medical science. Thus, it should not be presented as a factual perspective. As well as this, many readers will speak English as a second language. Some readers will be children and some readers will have Dyslexia or other disabilities that make reading difficult. This group would struggle even more to understand the facts about sex and reproduction from reading articles which made scientifically inaccurate statements. This does not mean that articles on gender theories and the philosophy of gender, including that some academics believe that the notion of biological sex is a social construct. Articles on sex organs, sex hormones and reproduction can also discuss this view, provided that undue weight is not given. Category:LK Policy